Daisies
by Rhiannon A. Christy
Summary: Jacob would do anything for Bella, even commit murder. She was his world and he vowed he would protect her. Only could he handle the blood on his hands? AU AH JakeBella. Short story
1. Preface

Preface: (Bella's POV)

* * *

The wind is almost violent as it wraps itself around me. I remember even when I was a child the wind here was always stronger. My mother hated for Jake and I to come up here on these cliffs, always afraid that the wind would take us and we would fall to our deaths in the icy waters below.

I feel a smile form on my lips at the thought of my best friend Jake. He was such a happy boy. He was like the Sun come down to Earth, given to us to give hope and light into our lives.

Even though he was younger than I was we had grown up almost inseparable. He was my first friend and my first kiss. He had only been fourteen and I had just turned sixteen at the time. My birthday party had been ruined when Jessica from school had come hand in hand with Edward Cullen. The boy I had been "in love" with since I was thirteen.

Edward and I had been talking at lunch in school everyday for the past two weeks, and I had thought he really liked me. Things seemed to be going well when he had accepted my invitation to my party. So you could understand how upset I was.

Jake had followed me up to my room, and not even bothering to knock he came in sat on the bed beside me. He set a handful of daisies in my lap, obviously picked by himself and wrapped in a soft blue ribbon. He had slipped his hand under my chin and lifted my face to his. He hadn't spoken or asked, just planted his lips upon my own.

At first it had been soft and chaste, until I grabbed a hold of the back of his head. He had licked my bottom lip and slipped his tongue into my mouth. It had been messy and wet, clumsy and everything a first kiss was. But it had been perfect. He had pulled back then and whispered against my lips that he loved me and when other guys hurt me he would always be there for me. He would always protect me.

I wiped the tears from my face. He had held true to his word. But where was he now? Where was he when I needed him, when he was the one to hurt me?

Falling to my knees on the edge of the cliffs I just continued to cry. One year ago today my life ended on these cliffs.

I watched through watery eyes as the bunch of daisies slipped from my hands and into the violent waters below.

* * *

Author's Note: Yes another story, but this one is already done so I will be posting it up once a week till all the chapters are up. After this there are four more chapters, though they are short.

Ok, now as with how many of my stories start I was washing dishes and listening to music. I was listening to the song Ode To Billy Joe, and for anyone who knows the song I'm guessing you know at least where the end….or the preface…is going.

This will be another story like Nightingale, so you better bring the tissues. A little background for you on this story:

Yes this is an All Human story. Renee never left Charlie so Bella and Jake grew up together. This story takes place while Bella is seventeen and Jake fifteen. So, no there will not be any lemons. This is a romance, but a drama first. Also this is rated M for mentions of Rape, and violence. So if that bothers you do not continue.


	2. We Tell Ourselves

Chapter One: We Tell Ourselves:

* * *

(Jake's POV)

I roll my eyes as I listened to Quil drone on and on about his newest girlfriend. This girl was his fifth girlfriend since school started two months ago. And as with the other four, he swore that he was madly in love with her, that she was 'the' one.

Embry flashed me a look from behind our friend. He, himself was on his second girlfriend since summer. Me? I was unlike the other boys in my school, I had already met my one and only. Isabella Swan.

I have been in love with her since I was five. I couldn't help but smile to myself as I think about the day I realized that she was my future.

It was the middle of summer and we had been playing in my backyard, chasing each other back and forth. I had tripped over my shoe laces that had come undone and fell hard onto my bare knees. She had rushed over and used the bottom of her shirt to clean the dirt off of my knee. I had bitten down on my lip in order not to cry in front of her. She just smiled at me and planted a little kiss on my knee telling me that her mommy always said a kiss could heal anything.

After that I knew that one day I would marry that girl, even if she didn't know it yet herself. Even now I believed that.

"Ok, come on you guys. Get out of here, Bells is going to be in soon." Embry was the one to roll his eyes this time. They both knew how I felt about Bella, though they didn't really understand. No one did. My dad always told me that one day I would find another woman who would turn my head from Bella. The boys thought I was crazy. Only Charlie came close, his love for Renee was very close to what I feel for his daughter.

"Oh right! Jakey boy here plans on putting on more of his insane moves, like they have been working so far for you! Come on Jake, it is never going to happen." The grease covered rag I threw at Quil hit him right in the face.

"Hey at least I have gotten further than either of you two!" This was sore spot for the two of my friends. None of their girlfriends ever allowed them to go past kissing. Bella and I haven't gone far, but we have experimented with each other.

"Yeah, whatever dude. You just keep telling yourself that! Come on Embry, I hear that little Seth's sister Leah is having a sleepover tonight." I just shook my head as they left. One day Leah would catch on to those two and when that happened I knew she would castrate them. She was one tough bitch.

It wasn't that much later Bella showed up. I had to force myself to breathe normally, she seemed to get more beautiful ever day.

As soon as my breathing evened out I smiled wide and watched as she took the seat next to me. I hadn't gotten to spend much time with her lately as she had found herself a new boyfriend. James.

Most of the girls in La Push and Forks all had crushes on him. James was a loner, an older loner. He was twenty and had moved to Forks back in July. No one knew if he had any family, he had just breezed into town with a couple of suit cases and took up in the old run down house between Forks and La Push. He didn't even have a car, he just walked everywhere.

He was quiet, refusing to talk to anyone unless he had to. Which was rare. He didn't even seem to have a job. So when one day he had approached Bella while she was at work it shocked everyone. Bella included.

He was handsome, I guess. I mean if you went for the blonde, motorcycle riding, leather and tight jean wearing type. Sadly Bella did. He had come by Newton's everyday for the next week just to talk to Bella. In the end he asked her out and she agreed.

No one but myself knew of their relationship. He was twenty and at the time that they first went out Bella had only been sixteen. She didn't plan on telling anyone until after she was eighteen, before then she feared her father throwing this boy's ass in jail. I have been tempted more than once to tell Charlie, but just looking into her eyes when she talks about him stops me. I know it won't last and when he is gone I will be there to pick up the pieces.

I reach over and pull her into a hug like I have done since we were small children. She winces, but just smiles as she pulls back. She had been doing that lately. Ever since her birthday in fact. We used to be comfortable around each other, practically hanging off of one another. Now she can barely stand for me to hold her hand.

She scoots away from me while she pulls the sleeves of her shirt down over her wrists. This was another thing, she was so covered up any more. Baggy jeans and turtlenecks. I knew that something was wrong, but I couldn't seem to get her to open up to me.

For the next two hours we talked as I worked on my Rabbit. I was hoping that James would be gone by the time I got it finished. Bella was suppose to go with me on the first drive and I was hoping to ask her to be my girlfriend then.

By the time seven rolled around I was leaning against the wall knowing that Bella would have to leave so she could go on her date with James. Every Saturday James would take her out while I covered for her. I watched and waited for her to get up, but she just sat there with her head down and almost between her legs.

After about ten minutes I realized something was really wrong. She had never been this quiet in all the years I have known her. I went and kneeled in front of her only to notice the tears that were falling from her eyes. When I reached to wipe them away she flinched, but eventually allowed me to clear them away.

Neither of us spoke for awhile, not until she pulled on the sleeve of her shirt just enough for me to make out a large purple bruise encircling her wrist. I took her hand carefully in mine, my eyes glued to the handprint in the marking. She whispered almost too quietly, if I hadn't had my ear practically by her mouth I wouldn't have heard it.

"I don't know what to do. Jake…he…oh God Jake it hurts so much. I told him no, but he just keeps doing it. I-I didn't want to I swear it!" I looked up at her knowing that fear was showing in my eyes. I hoped to God that I was wrong about what I thought she was talking about. It just couldn't be true, not to my Bella! I couldn't speak I could only pull her into my arms, but she stiffened and cried out in pain. Before I could do or say anything she bolted out my garage and out to her truck.

I just stood there watching as she drove off.

* * *

I paced back and forth in my room. My eyes kept going to the small bookmark on the table beside my bed. Bella had pressed one of the daisies I had given her for her sixteenth birthday and made me that bookmark. I had kept it, it was a piece of us. A reminder that I had actually kissed the woman I was in love with.

I tried to will the images from my mind. The real ones of Bella's bruised wrist and her tear stained cheeks, the pain and fear in her face. The shame. And the ones that my mind kept making up of James abusing the woman I loved. I wasn't stupid, it just took a little longer for me to figure things out.

She had been depressed since her birthday. Unreceptive to mine or anyone's touches. She winced when she would sit. The baggy clothing and distance she had been putting between everyone in her life. And now with what she had told me. There was only one thing that could be happening, and it killed me inside.

My sweet and innocent Bella. I looked from the bookmark to my mirror. I had promised that day a little over a year ago that I would be there to protect her always. She needed me now, and I would be damned if I didn't help her.

I was quiet as I moved through my house. Billy was in the front room watching the game, and I knew he wouldn't be paying attention for awhile, but I didn't want to take any chances. I knew where my father kept everything, so it didn't take me long to get his pistol and bullets.

After loading the gun I snuck out the back door. James lived just outside of La Push. I didn't think as I stole my father's car and headed for the old house. I wasn't sure what I would do, or if I would do anything. The only thing on my mind was my Bella and my promise.

* * *

Author's Notes: I have known women that have been raped and abused, one being very close to my heart, and if you are being abused or know someone who is, get help. Know there is help out there. No one deserves to treat anyone that way.


	3. The Thunder Rolls

Chapter Two: The Thunder Rolls:

* * *

(Jake's POV)

The car jolted slightly as I put it in park. I sat there for a moment as I gazed down at the gun in my hand. It was heavy and cold as I turned it over and over. Maybe he would just leave Bella alone if I threatened him with it. I took a breath to steel myself and got out of the car and walked up to the door.

My knock was hesitant at first, but as I continued to imagine what he had done to her they became harder till I was sure I had cut my knuckles. The door flung open, and there backlit by lamplight stood James.

He wore no shirt with nail scratches down his chest and hair sticking out in different directions. His jeans were unbuttoned, and I could tell he had just pulled them up to answer the door.

"What do you want kid? I'm a little busy." His eyes were crazed and I could see a drop of blood as it slipped down from a bite mark on his lower lip. Whimpering came from behind him. I knew that voice, Bella. I pushed as much past him as I could, wishing I hadn't the moment my eyes laid on her.

She was on the floor completely nude and covered in purple and yellow bruises. But the part that hurt the worst was the thick smear of red along the inside of her thighs.

When I looked back into James' eyes he had a smirk plastered across his face like he knew how much what he did hurt me. Like he was proud of it. I didn't think, just reacted. My had flew up from my side, the barrel of the gun pressed against his bare chest.

I pulled the trigger before he could push me away. His body slumped to the floor, but the image of my Bella in that corner enraged me and I continued to shoot even though he was already dead.

It wasn't until I heard Bella's scream that I realized fully what I had done. I had killed.

There laid James on the floor with a full round of bullets pumped into his chest. The gun dropped beside me with a loud clang, but I paid it no attention. I couldn't take my eyes off of the man in front of me and his chest which I had blown open.

I could feel his hot blood as it dripped down my face and I fought the urge to gag as some of it slipped into my mouth.

"Jake! W-what did you do?" I lifted my eyes to Bella. She was still on the floor where she was when I came, still naked. The sight brought me out of whatever stupor I was in. Within a moment I had wiped the blood from my face and was across the room, wrapping her up in a blanket.

I rocked her back and forth as she cried, whispering softly to her that everything was ok now. She was safe. That James would never touch her again. After awhile she quieted and pulled away just far enough to look at me.

"Why?" I just set my forehead against hers and closed my eyes.

"Because I love you. Because you didn't deserve to be treated that way. Because….because." I hoped she understood. I loved her so much I would kill a thousand men if it would keep her safe. She was silent for a few minutes, but soon she was pushing against me and standing.

"Jake, we've got to do something. When the police find him they are going to figure it out. You will go to prison. I-I couldn't lose you." I was up and pulling her back into my arms, keeping her face from the bloodied and mangled chest of the man on the floor.

"They won't take me away. I promise you."

"How? When they start searching this place…" I set my finger against her lips as an idea formed in my head.

"They won't search. Listen, James had no friends and no one but me knew about the two of you. When he isn't seen for a few days no one is going to think anything of it. I mean you know as well as anyone he always would take off for days without telling anyone.

"And no one knows where he works, if he even worked. No one will know." She turned around in my arms and pointed to James.

"What about the body? Jake someone will come by eventually." I searched around me for a moment, my eyes landing on the window.

"We bury him. Out in the forest, and then we clean up everything in here and pack up his stuff. We can store his things in my garage for a few days and then take them to the dump. That way if anyone does get suspicious and comes 'round they will think he just skipped town." She just nodded. I sat her on the couch while I left and grabbed the comforter from his bed.

She kept quiet as I rolled him into the blanket and used a curtain tie to tie up one end of the bundle.

"Bella, get dressed and while I take care of him I want you to go around and pack up his things. Put them in black sacks if you have to. Just anything and everything you can find, ok?" Silently she stood and moved towards her clothes. I stopped her before she got very far and hugged her.

"Everything is going to be ok. I promised that I would always protect you. I love you." Her eyes as she looked up at me were filled with so much hurt that it almost sent me to my knees.

"I love you too Jake."

* * *

I shut the door and used a rag with Windex on it to wipe the handle and wood down. Over the past two hours Bella and I had not only buried the bastard, but packed up all of his things and wiped down anything that either her or myself could have touched. The hardest had been cleaning the blood from the front entrance floor.

I slipped into the driver's seat and took Bella's hand and gave it a soft squeeze. We didn't speak as we drove back to my house, and I didn't let go of her hand unless I had to. Luckily James hadn't had very many possessions. Just enough to fill two suit cases and three black sacks filled with bedding and curtains.

We stashed his things behind a stack of boxes in my garage, I would drive them out to the dump in a few days. When we snuck into the house my dad was fast asleep in his wheelchair with the TV still blaring. I was sure he hadn't even known I was gone.

I sent Bella to go shower while I quickly cleaned up my dad's pistol and stashed it back where he kept it. Then cleaned myself up in my Dad's bathroom.

By the time I finished, Bella was sitting on my bed all wrapped up in one of my old shirts and a pair or my sweats. If it hadn't been for the bruises and scratches covering her she would have been adorable. She looked up at me with watery eyes, trying her best to smile.

"What are we going to do, Jake?" I gathered her up in my arms and laid her back with me.

"We are going to forget him and what just happened, and move on. We are going to go to school and you are going to come over here every afternoon and talk to me about silly things while I work on my Rabbit. You are going to go with me when I finish that car and you are going to say yes when I ask you out.

"We are going to go to your prom, this year and next. Then we are going to mine. And when I get up on that stage for my graduation and get down on one knee to ask you to marry me, you are going to cry and laugh and yell yes at the top of your lungs." I looked down at her and wiped the tears from her cheeks and held onto her tighter.

"I am going to stand under a wooden arch that I carved at the edge of the cliffs and watch as you walk towards me in a beautiful white gown. We'll say 'I Do' and kiss in front of our family and friends. Then in a couple of years we will welcome our first child into the world, and we will live." I leaned down and kissed her cheek softly. She took in a deep breath and clutched tightly to me.

I never asked her what happened, or why she hadn't told anyone. She would tell me in time. Until then we would do as I said. We would live.

* * *

Author's Note: I cried writing that damn ending.

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own a thing.


	4. A Better Man

Chapter Three: A Better Man:

* * *

(Jake's POV)

The days passed by slowly after that night. Bella improved, the bruises and cuts over her body faded and soon she looked like the old Bella. At least outwardly. I could still see the pain and fear in her eyes. It was in the way she looked at strange men or how she flinched when anyone but me touched her. She didn't even like being around Quil and Embry.

She told me that things were getting better. That she was beginning to feel more comfortable around others. I believed her because I wanted it to be true.

I had finally got the Rabbit finished three weeks after everything, and while we were parked overlooking the cliffs she had turned to look at me and asked me if I was going to ask her or if she would have to ask me herself.

We have been going out since that day. To all of our friends and family our relationship looked perfect. We would kiss and make out, but I was always careful not to go too far. I was fearful of scaring her.

No one seemed to be concerned about James. Eventually Charlie went out to his house, but after a look through the window to find an empty house everyone just believed that he had breezed out of town like he had breezed into it.

My nights have been sleepless, even when I sneak through Bella's window. I just end up laying there and watching her. When I do sleep I am plagued with images of James, bloodied and dead on the floor. In my heart I know what I did was right.

So many of these guys get off. James was a charmer and I was certain he would have sweet talked his way out of his charges and continued on hurting my Bella. Though she has never said, she had eluded to the fact that James had threatened her and her family.

I never told Bella about my nightmares. She had too much to deal with as it was, but this was slowly killing me. I was only fifteen and I had killed a man. Even if no one knew besides Bella and I, I would always carry that guilt. His blood would forever stain my hands.

I pushed all these thoughts to the back of my mind as I straightened my tie. Tonight I was taking Bella to her prom. She had protested, saying she couldn't dance. Eventually I had been able to talk her into going, promising that I would ask for one dance only and we would leave after an hour. I smiled weakly at myself in the mirror as I heard my father yelling at me to hurry up or I would be late.

* * *

Quil had teased me earlier that day about finally getting laid tonight. For most guys this was the night they would be guaranteed. I expected nothing from Bella, and when after we had been there for ten minutes Jessica made a rude comment, I made sure Bella understood this.

Instead we found ourselves sitting on her couch with her parents upstairs in bed. After removing our shoes and my tie and her jewelry we cuddled up in a blanket and watched old black and white films. Halfway through the night she began telling me about James. She described what he had done to her, how she felt about it and why she went back to him. I had been right for the most part. He had threatened to kill her parents and me should she ever tell or leave him.

The part that caused my blood to boil and my teeth to clench was finding out that she was not the first girl he had done this to. She told me how he delighted in telling her how he did it to the others even showing her Polaroids that he had taken.

I clutched her close to me, wishing that I could have stopped it sooner. A better man than myself would have done much worse to that monster than I had.

* * *

Author's Note: If you haven't noticed the titles of the chapters are actually all songs from Clint Black and Garth Brooks, though they really have nothing to do with the story…but do listen to them if you like country. They are some of my favorite songs.


	5. Unanswered Prayers

Chapter Four: Unanswered Prayers:

* * *

(Jake's POV)

After Bella told me everything she began to heal. Her smiles became real, her eyes once again sparkling. I was happy for her, only I wished I could have been for myself as well.

I sit now out on the grounds of Forks High and watch as Bella walks slowly on stage to accept her diploma. So far everything is going just how I lined it out to her that night that seems so long ago. We are still together and I took her to her Senior prom, where she actually danced twice with me.

Two weeks ago she decided that she was finally ready, and almost every night since we have made love.

Everyone claps as the last student descends from the stage and they all throw their caps into the air. Once the way is clear I make my way over to a smiling Bella and hand her a bunch or daisies tied up in a pale blue ribbon. She takes them and flings herself in my arms and kisses the devil out of me. I try not to think about my own depression and only about how wonderful it feels to have her in my arms, and how much I love this woman.

We say hello and goodbye to her family and make our way to my house and the garage where I have finally saved up enough to by a hide-away couch. That night after we were both too tired to even move I just laid there and watched as she slept.

* * *

I kneeled down over the plot of earth where I had buried that bastard. Nothing marks the grave except the trunk of a large tree. For the past few months I have been coming here. The first had been the night of Bella's graduation.

I wanted answers. Why he had done this? Why Bella? Did he feel guilty? Only I would never know the answer to these, he died with that knowledge.

I loved to spat out at the grave how no one missed him. How there was no one that cared enough to actually check to see if something happened to him. Or how well Bella was doing now and how I was taking care of her. I just wished I could see the look on his face when I said these things.

My knees connected harshly with the dirt, uncaring about the stains that would be on my jeans. I didn't know why I came here. Why I tortured myself with the grave of my victim. The only thing that soothed my conscience was to tell myself that Bella was the victim, James was nothing more than a monster.

Only why did it still hurt so much to think that I had killed this man? Why is it that I still wake up in a sweat after dreaming of his body lying in his blood?

I pulled out the small black box that I had in my pocket. About a month ago while I was in Seattle I had come across this ring and knew it was the one. I bought it and have been carrying it around with me ever since.

"You may have fractured her a bit, but you hadn't broken her completely. She is almost whole again. I will make her complete soon and we will live and forget you. This is the last time I will be coming here. After today we will forget you ever existed. You will be nothing." I spat on the ground where I know his head rested and stood. It was time to forget and live.

* * *

It is funny how promises, even ones made to the dead can be broken. I had tried to forget about him, but I have failed. I sit now on the edge of my bed, the ring box in hand.

I was to graduate today, and as promised I was all prepared to ask for Bella's hand on stage. I even had it all worked out with the principle. Dad and her parents will be there with their camera rolling to capture the entire thing. Even Alice, one of Bella's new friends, is going to be there waiting with bridal magazines.

The lid to the box creeks as I open it and look down at the small gold ring. It isn't much, but it is Bella. And that is what matters. I click the box shut as I exhale slowly. I loved that woman with everything I was, but was it fair to ask her to tie herself to a man that was so broken?

I grabbed the letter I had written earlier that day and looked it over before setting it and the ring box on top of my pillow. The same pillow Bella had rested her head last night as I slowly loved her. This would hurt her I knew, but one day she would understand. I just hoped she forgave me as well.

I drove out to the cliffs and sat there in the driver's seat of my car before I finally took in a breath and walked out. Today it would finally end.

* * *

(Bella's POV)

I waited beside Billy in the crowd to see Jake. He had yet to show up, but he normally would be a few minutes late. I thought nothing on it until the proceedings had begun and he hadn't shown. When they called his name for the fourth time I knew something was wrong.

My heart stopped once I saw the three officers walk up to the crowd and straight for Billy and myself. I barely heard anything after the fact that they had found Jake's car at the cliffs and his body washed up on the shore, broken and dead.

Dead. That word kept ringing in my ears. They had to be wrong, he wouldn't leave me. He just wouldn't. He was suppose to propose today, we were going to get married this October and start our family. He couldn't be gone.

I pushed my way past everyone, I even shoved off Charlie as he tried to restrain me. When I finally made it to his house I ran inside and to his room hoping to see that he had just over slept. I stopped when all I saw was a letter and ring box on his pillow.

With shaky hands I picked them up and slipped the ring on before reading. Somehow I already knew what was on it.

_Bella,_

_Bella, Love, I am sorry._

_I love you with everything that I am._

_Jake._

I wasn't sure how long it was, hours, days, I don't know. Soon Billy and Charlie came into the room where I was curled up on Jake's bed sobbing. He had actually left me all alone. How was I going to live without him?

* * *

Jake's funeral had been beautiful with white daisies covering every surface. I had left after that. I told no one where, just packed up and left. I couldn't deal with life without Jake. Many times I had thought about joining him. The only thing that stopped me was the knowledge that Jake would want me to live.

I pull my car to a stop and look out through the windshield at the cliffs. After a year I decided that it was time to go home. I grabbed the bunch of daisies from the passenger seat and opened my door.

* * *

Author's Note: I know it was a little fast paced, but just think of it as a oneshot just cut into parts. I really didn't want to turn this into a large story, I have so many of those I'm working on right now. But man, this story actually taxed me while writing it.

I know it is not that original of a storyline, but so often when someone does a story like this it is from the woman's pov, I just wanted to deal mostly with Jake's emotions when it came to him killing James.


End file.
